Vienna Vegetable Soup
Author: Mel // Category:Whenever I make this soup it reminds me of a jovial lady I met through my colleague when I was in Vienna in my early 20's. She was a Malaysian married to an Austrian chap with two lovely children. She was kind enough to entertain my colleague and I by cooking delicious Austrian meals I never forgot.
I remember one of the days we visited with her.There was this wonderful aroma coming from her kitchen as she opened the door and led us into her home. After exchanging a few words she went about setting the table and sliced some home made french loaf. Then she dished out a big bowl of this vegetable soup and invited us to eat, very much of a hospitable Malay lady she was.
Apalagi(What else), I dived into the soup and thought of nothing else but my own enjoyment of a fine dish, thinking to myself how perfect it was slurping soup in the middle of winter. I unabashedly asked for the recipe and to my surprise it was/is a very simple dish to make. The vegetables only consist of potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and celery but it is SOOOO tasty. I am not much of a celery person, especially eating the vegetable on its own. I guess the wonderment of celery is that it has a strong flavour that when cooked with other vegetables, it makes the whole thing so good and contributes beautifully to the aroma of the finished dish. This truth was further stamped when I recently watched Nigella on AFC. She was making this particular stew and she said to trust her and add chunks of celery into the dish she was preparing. She stressed that no other vegetable can substitute it because it just wouldn't work. I instantly knew what she meant. Yes, I believe you, Nigella!
I really do not know the real name of this dish or whether it was created by this wonderful lady with sweet hands. So I just called it Vienna Vegetable Soup when anybody enquired about it. Well, I don't mean to brag but EVERYBODY always enquires about this soup after tasting it. Even my father's Mat Salleh(white man) friend from Scotland asked for this recipe.
Ingredients:-
- 2 small to medium sized potatoes - diced
- 1 stalk celery - sliced
- 1/2 packet of shiitake mushrooms - sliced
- 1 carrot - diced
- 1 and 1/2 big yellow onions - diced
- 100-140 gms sour cream - actually how much sour cream depends on individual taste
- 1 l vegetable stock / chicken stock - total amount of stock already mixed with water. But really just go by eye how much liquid you want to add.
- 1 tsp marjoram( If using fresh herb the amount again, depends on taste. I tend to use up the whole packet I purchase in Jaya Grocer. The dried herb is preferable because the aroma and flavor is different and more distinct than the fresh ones).
Method:-
- Fry onions till soft and translucent.
- Add mushrooms and fry till the mushroom smell goes off.
- Add carrots and potatoes and fry till half cooked.
- Add celery and fry till fragrant.
- Pour stock in. Let simmer.
- Once the broth starts to boil, pour in sour cream as much as you like until the soup turns white in colour.Keep stirring while pouring in the cream or it will curdle.
- Once vegetables are cooked, rub dried marjoram between palms and throw in the pot.Season with salt.
- Turn off fire.
- Serve.
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